The ruling Janata Dal United (JDU) on Wednesday declared its support for the BJP-nominated candidate Ms Draupadi Murmu for the office of President.
The Modi government on Tuesday announced that it is fielding Murmu, a tribal woman leader, for the presidential race. She will up against Yashwant Sinha, a former Union Minister, the joint opposition candidate for the Presidential polls to be held in July.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had telephoned him yesterday to convey the decision on Ms Murmu. "I profusely thanked PM for the choice," said Nitish.
The chief minister added, "as the Governor of neighbouring Jharkhand, she performed her duties well. She comes from a poor tribal family and PM took the right decision."
Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh said, "Nitish Kumar is known for his commitment to women empowerment and always supported the cause of the poor."
Lallan Singh appealed to the opposition parties to withdraw their probable candidate and ensure her election with consensus.
Upendra Kushwaha, chairman of the JDU parliamentary board requested the BJP leadership to try for the uncontested election of Ms Murmu.
The former chief minister and president of HAM(S) commented, "Modi hai to Mumkin hai," while promising his support to Murmu.
Chirag Paswan, president of Lok Janshakti Party (R) said that his party is in full support of the BJP's candidature choice. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dialled Chirag to seek his support.
Meanwhile, RJD announced support for the UPA candidate, Yashwant Sinha, who would get support from the Left parties too. Sinha, a retired IAS of the 1960 batch had served in Bihar till 1984 when he took VRS to join the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) (SJP(R)) of Chandrashekhar.
Sinha was the principal secretary of three chief ministers of Bihar including, Karpoori Thakur, Ram Sundar Das and Jagannath Mishra.
He was also the Union finance and foreign affairs minister. His son, Jayant Sinha, is a member of Lok Sabha from Hazaribagh.
